first time I have played here. The greens are firm and fast, the pins were cut in some very difficult places today. I think that there are very few "easy" pin placements on this course, there are several greens that are slightly to moderately elevated with run off areas making accuracy and either a high soft shot or a bump and run necessary. The greens are in great shape, very few ball marks and ran true-if you can get the speed of them. The fairways were in very good shape and wide enough as long as you don't really spray the ball. Big hooks or slices are desert bound! As mentioned the greens are difficult to hit and with the pins today it was/is very easy to 3 putt. No clubhouse, you checkin and drive to th bag drop. Decent range, not a great putting green and does have a chipping area, no facilities, (porta potties) cart girl made it around twice, as she has to service the drop area and range. I enjoyed the course and their website has some very good deals. It is a long way out from Scottsdale and PHX north and east of Troon North. I would likely play it again.

Vista Verde Golf Course Review
Rio Verde Arizona Golf Course Reviews

Course was in very good shape. Greens were fairly fast (started said 10 on stint), smooth and ran true. They can be difficult to read. The were fairly firm but would hold a good shot. Fairways were good, a very few bare spots, tee boxes good, rough was good as well (not dormant). Customer service was good, cart girl was around often, and sometimes will park in crossover areas. You can get a good rate from their own website, I paid $69 for Friday play, which is a very good price for this course. Play it if you get a chance! If you hit your tee shot at the 150 marker you won't go wrong-except #13, hit it left of the "barber pole". I wouldn't use driver on 11.

Legend Trail Golf Club Course Review
Scottsdale Arizona Golf Course Reviews

The fleet of new carts arrived today. No GPS, they used to have a good GPS system, and I'm not sure if they will be getting one or not - I forgot to ask! As well for some reason (new superintendent perhaps) there was no indication of the pin placements i.e. they were not indicated with colored flags, and no pin sheet, which they used to give out, so it was by guess and by golly !! However I think they are still getting adjusted to the new owners working some kinks out, and I would think that this may be resolved in the near future. Course is being worked on, and is looking good.

Foothills Golf Club Course Review
Phoenix Arizona Golf Course Reviews

New name...Raven Golf Club Phoenix, and new management OB Sports. OB sports has to be the largest course management company now in the area. The course was in superb condition, I would say the best in several years. Greens were excellent, firm, but would hold most well struck shots. The greens were medium fast to fast, the pins today were difficult, a few of our shots that we thought were very good, rolled off as many greens have some deceptive "run off areas" well maybe all the greens do. Fairways were lush, no bare spots and very little divot damage. Sand was excellent, I think they have redone all the bunkers, ie. adding sand, grooming, no new bunkers, but in much better shape, downside was the someone in a group ahead of us, refused to rake the bunkers-idiots. The service was very good, the Marshall in fact cleaned the clubs when he stopped, once when we were waiting to tee off on a par 3, and one other time on a par 5 when we were on the green, nice touch. As I said earlier, you have to watch where the pins are, as there are run off areas. The course is well bunkered, both fairway and green-side. The rack rate is a bit high, but there are deals to be had.

Raven Golf Club Phoenix Course Review
Phoenix Arizona Golf Course Reviews

Played The Duke for the second time. This time I thought the pace of play very slow, although it only took us 4 1/2 hours to play, it seemed much longer. The greens were pretty thin today, although they were soft and would hold a shot. These greens are fairly tricky and I found tough to read. Even the 2 members who played with us said the same thing about the greens, tricky to read. Fairways were in good shape, although there were some areas with divot damage. Bunkers were good. Tee boxes generally good. I like to course, although it can be very difficult. My playing partner will NOT go back. I think I would though, it is a bit of a drive from the Scottsdale area, but nothing too too bad.

The Duke at Rancho El Dorado Golf Course Review
Maricopa Arizona Golf Course Reviews

Played December 30th, a beautiful day! The course was in great shape. Greens were fast and smooth. Ran true. A lot of the greens had undulations in them, so be aware of that, although you certainly couldn't miss them looking at the greens. Mostly large greens, so a 3 putt is looming if you're not on the right level, or if your approach shot is errant/not near the pin. Fairways were excellent, and generally speaking quite wide, the exception being a couple holes on the back nine, where you can hit it through the fairways with driver (or as I did 3 wood), so pay attention to the GPS system-which is an excellent system, we were fortunate enough to play with a couple of members who were quite helpful. I was only in one bunker and the sand was excellent. Although the rough was dormant it was still fairly deep, but if your ball wasn't sitting down in it you could get the club on it without difficulty. The desert on the back nine comes into play a lot, so pay attention to where to hit it. I played here a couple of years ago, and by comparison the course now is far superior to the conditions then. The staff were friendly and efficient, cart girl around often enough and pass the clubhouse at the turn if you wanted something there. Play moved along pretty good, we were done in just under 4 hours, we teed off at 930, and there were people making the turn when we arrived around 815, so I'm guessing play is generally pretty quick. It will slow down on the back nine. I will play it again.

Dove Valley Ranch Golf Club Review
Cave Creek Arizona Golf Course Reviews

The Foothills has just (mid or late December 2011) been acquired by Ahwatukee golf properties, they own and operate 5 courses in the area including The Duke and Club West. Foothills has, in the past had some maintenance issues, as witnessed by some reviews over the past few years. I have always found it a very good layout, and "generally" in pretty good condition. Today December 27th, there was a 1 hour frost delay, which backed things up and led to a 5 hour round of golf today. The greens looked a bit thin, but held shots nicely, and putted very true. Fairways were good, with some divots in areas. Sand has never been really good here, somewhat inconsistent and with small stones in some bunkers, but bunkers are usually playable at least. Tee boxes had some divot damage as well, however I will put that down to a change of ownership/management, and therefore maintenance may have stalled for a bit. The previous Foothills carts with GPS were gone, with a fleet of terrible rental units, but new carts are coming the first week in January we were told. The staff were friendly, and accommodating with, it appeared the pro-shop staff being from either The Duke or Club West (just down the road). Other staff are mostly those that have been at Foothills for a bit. Food is still good. Rates {with the Ahwatukee Card(s)} were $59, although when I booked, a few days before it changed hands, I was told it would be $55, not a big deal, but....Still a good course and I hope that it continues that way, and conditions improve (not that they were bad). It is still a definite "play" on my list.

Foothills Golf Club Course Review
Phoenix Arizona Golf Course Reviews

First time playing the Gary Player course. Got a good rate $89, I was the first person to do their new "Walk the Westin" program, in fact the cart guy had to put the push cart together right out of the box !! You also get lunch, pedometer and water bottle with the program. This course is very walker friendly, no real long hikes, or tough hills. Anyway the course just came out of over-seeding, and was in excellent shape. The greens were running slow, as they really hadn't had a chance to cut them to their usual height, so that made for slow greens, the greens actually had a lot of ball marks on them, which simply means that people are not repairing their ball marks.....bad on you!!. Everywhere else was great, lush fairways, and the dormant rough was pretty thick, the ball sits down in it, so stay out of it, the fairways are generous, there are fairway bunkers and some green-side bunkers, but fortunately I never went into any bunkers so can't say what the sand was like. there are some water hazards as well that do come into play, but again the fairways are wide enough to give you lots of bail out room. It was slow today, four and a half hours, group in front of us just couldn't keep up to the one in front of them, we could have been done 30 minutes earlier. Service was excellent (Troon). The pro shop and grill are very small and are like temporary structures, but my guess is they aren't temporary! I had screwed up the tee time - by a DAY on the internet booking system, so called and Mike in the pro shop was very helpful and accommodating in changing it for me. I'd play it again.

Westin Mission Hills Course Review
Palm Spring California Golf Reviews

I played Eagle Falls for the first time today (Thanksgiving) not a bad rate of $85 all in. I was quite impressed with the course. It was in excellent condition, a few bare spots on the greens but nothing terrible. The bare spots had some topdressing (sand) on them so it may have been more of a maintenance thing. The course was lush, fairways, tees and rough. There are some desert areas you can get into, and areas of native grasses that you can play as lateral hazards. The course is quite visually impressive. It has some water on it which does come into play. I found that most of the greens has a slight elevation to them, and started hitting an extra club. Good GPS system. Caution if you are playing for the first time. The GPS says wait until the players leave the green and arrive at the 5th tee...PAY ATTENTION to it, as you must cross in front of #4 green to get to #5 tee, so wait until they are there. Customer service was good, staff very friendly. The club house and snack shack are trailers or temporary structures and you have to go out of your way at the turn if you want to hit it for food/drink, however the beverage cart was out and we saw her quite a bit. I would play it again for sure, however it can get windy in the afternoon so play in the morning for calmer conditions.

Eagle Falls Golf Course Review
Palm Springs California Golf Course Reviews

This is the 2nd time I've played The Classic Club. It was in excellent condition, greens were very smooth and fairly fast, some very subtle breaks. Some greens have 2 tiers and you have to be on the correct tier or your chances of a 2 putt is minimal. Fairways were lush, and cut short, so you could get some spin on your ball with ease. The tee boxes were also very good. This is a fairly difficult course, both times I have played it, it was a calm day but I understand it can get very breezy here, which would make it extremely difficult, so choose the tees which best suit you. Lots of bunkering throughout the course, strategically placed in fairways, and generally lots of greenside bunkers. The sand quality was very good and consistent. There is also a fair amount of water throughout the course and it does come into play. The par 3's tend to have very large greens, and unless playing from the tips, they are very accessible. As mentioned, I find it a difficult course to play, it favors a fade, and I'm not great at those :-) I will however play it again!! Troon managed course, so customer services is very good.

Classic Club Course Review
Palm Desert California Golf Course Reviews

I finally got back to play Escena! I played it many years ago prior to its closing. I haven't been back to the Palm Springs area since. I am glad I made it. The course was in great shape, greens were a bit slow as they are growing them in I guess, but not as quick as they once were, but I understand from some locals that they are usually much quicker. They were spraying the greens as well so I'm thinking seasonal maintenance. The greens here are huge, you can have a 60 foot putt on many holes, and the greens tend to be multi-tiered and in some cases very dramatically so. The course is very fair, lots of fairway for the most part, some very strategically placed bunkers on every hole and water hazards on several holes, although for the MOST part you have room for error. The sand in the bunkers continues to have many pebbles/stones in them, this is the one complaint about this course, others have noted the same thing. Well I guess I do have one more, in that quite surprisingly there is really no place to stop at the turn to grab a sandwich or anything, except in the actual grill room, which is out of the way for people making the turn, and we only saw the cart girl once at the 6th hole, so pack a lunch! The is no driving range here, a net cage with about 12 stalls and small chipping green, but large practice putting green which was very close to the speed of the greens on the course. Customer service is very good, met in the parking lot by an attendant to get the clubs. We paid $95 all in, which is the going rate, although Standby Golf has a bit of a better rate, but booking is only allowed after 4 the previous day. All in all, it is well worth the green fee, and I will play again, it is a very very nice track.

Escena Golf Club Course Review
Palm Springs Golf Course Reviews

Played this course for the first time today. Troon managed course so customer service was as usual very good. Course was in good condition, greens were good, a bit slower than what I would have expected, but ran true. Typical Pete Dye course, all greens are slightly elevated with run off areas so you pretty well have to hit the green, if you are just short/hit the fringe, chances are you won't be on the green. Plenty of bunkers as well, and of course the Dye signature railway ties or similar on the water hazards, of which there are several. Fairways were plenty wide enough for the most part, generally speaking you can see all of the trouble that's in front of you. Only complaint today was that the pace of play was awful. One group in front of us backed up the whole course. Spoke to the customer service guy driving around (Marshall is what they used to be called hahaha) who told us on both occasions he had asked them to speed up, which they didn't. Beverage cart was around frequently.